Word: icelander
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Iceland is getting used to this. Over the past six months its currency has collapsed, its largest banks have all failed and been nationalized, and its economy has imploded. Today the tiny (pop: 320,000) nation became the first to lose its government to the global financial crisis. Addressing the press, Iceland's Prime Minister Geir Haarde announced the resignation of his cabinet and the collapse of the current coalition government. The Conservative leader said that he could not "accept the Social Democratic demand that they would lead the government...
...announcement came after three months of public protests over the government's role in the economic meltdown last October. On Jan. 20, as much of the world was glued to President Obama's inauguration, a mob of riotous protesters pounded on the walls of Iceland's parliament building, denouncing the government for its incompetence. "It was heartbreaking to watch America welcome a leader who they actually revere and place all their hope in, while here we are literally banging down the government's door to get them to listen to us," says Erla Bjarnadóttir, 32, an unemployed office...
...days that have followed a number of prominent officials, including Minister of Commerce Björgvín Sigurdsson and the director and board of Iceland's Financial Supervisory Authority, have tendered their resignations...
...year ago, few would have predicted such a rapid fall from grace for the affluent North Atlantic nation. Iceland topped the most recent U.N. Human Development Index and boasted one of the highest GDP's per capita in the world. But its banks, carrying massive debt loads, became early victims of the global credit crunch. In October, in an effort to salvage the hemorrhaging economy Haarde's government negotiated a $10 billion bail out package with the International Monetary Fund...
...will be dissolved, or if elections will be held immediately. Another possibility is a national government with all parties participating until the May election. If the Social Democrats take control, even temporarily, they are likely to be led by Jóhanna Siguršardóttir, who would become Iceland's first female prime minister and the first openly gay prime minister in Europe...